Material for purifying acetylene gas.



Sterne.

PATENT Fl IClEO MATERIAL FOR PURIFYING ACETYLE'NE GAS.

'SPEGIFICATIQN forming partof Letters Iatent Ida-647,295, dated April 10, 1900. Application filed June 23, 1899. Serial No; 722,208. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, OTTO ERNST and AL- FRED PHILIPS, subjects of the Emperor of -.state or in solid form. has thedisadvantage that the liquid must either be absorbed bysome porous material,

Germany, .and residents of Hochst-on-the- Main, near- Frankfort, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Materials for Purifying Acetylene Gas, of which the followingis a. specification.

' The objectof this invention is to produce material for purifying acetylenegas, the said.

material possessing the advantages of great .cheapness, energetic action, and harmless? ness toward the gas itsel In purifying acetylene gas materials have been hitherto employed either in the dissolved The useof solutions such as kieselgu'hr, (infusorial earth',) or be applied in a washing contrivan'ce, which is' usually of inconvenient form and requires considerable attention, and also some. ma-

' nipulative skill is demanded on account of the acid character of the liquid. Therefore the use of solid purifying agents has advan vtages, especially in the case of small illumination systems, such as house installations,

table-lamps, and the like.

Among the solid materials which are oapa ble of purifying acetylene from its impurities (phosphoreted hydrogen, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfid) the salts of hypochlorous acid are very advantageous on account of their. acting'well in the dry state and their cheap uess. The calcium salt takesthe first place among the hypochlorites, being easily obtain able in the form of bleaching-powder. Certain obstacles are incidental to the use of bleaching-powder in its commercial form, rendering its application to the purifying of acetylene gas impracticable. In moist air it forms lumps which cannot well be penetrated by the gas and therefore gives rise to waste of material. Moreover, it has been observed '(Acetylen in Wz'ssenschaft and Industrie,

. erster Jahrgang, 1898, Heft 23, S. 276) that when ordinary bleaching-powder is used inpurifying acetylene gas it becomes heated in consequence of decomposition and so constitutes a source of danger, and in using bleaching-powder, as is also the case with all other solid purifiers hitherto employed, in order to bring, the gas into close contact with the purifying agent, it becomes necessary either to spread it on wire trays or sieves in the purifier or to mix it with light chemically-inactive materials, such as kieselguhr, pumice, or the like.--; In both cases the purifying material occupies a large space. y

We; have succeeded in preparing from bleaching-powder or other hypochlorites a purifying material in fragments, which-material is highly' porous and yet so solid that it is unnecessary either to spread it on trays or to convert it into loose bulky masses by admixture with inert substances before it can be applied industrially in an economical manner. Spontaneous heating of "the material is thus avoided, and the material remains highly porous and effective even under the influence of-moisturer The new purifying material according to this invention is obtained by mixing the by 'pochlorite to a sludge with some substance indifferent to acetylene gas,spreading out the sludge in a'thin layer, and then drying it at such temperature that no decomposition of the hypochlorite will occur. For admixture 'withithe hypochlorite all tliose substances can be used which on the one hand are without deteriorating influence on acetylene gas and on the other hand yield a highly-porous material when mixed with the salt and subsequently dried. In the first rank must be placed slaked lime, calcium carbonate, and similar substances. Calcium chlorid can also be advantageously employed as the indifferent diluent, because it gives up its water of crystallization when dried, forming bubbles and pores.

Most descriptions of bleaching-powder contain, in addition to hypochlorite, slaked lime and calcium chlorid in quantity sufiicient to admit of their being treated'in the manner indicated above without further admixture.

The following examples represent working methods of preparing the new material. They are, however, examples merely, andthe invention is not limited strictly to them.

Example I: Twenty kilos of bleaching-powder are stirred into a uniform sludge with Water and treated with a similar sludge composed of five kilos of slaked lime and five ki- 10s of calcium chlorid with water. The mass is thoroughlyincorporated and dried in vacuo at 100f" centigrade, it being advantageous to spreadthe material in comparatively 7 thin layers on drying-trays. The mass in drying 5 becomes highly porous and suificiently hard to allow of its being broken into fragments of convenient size without falling to powder. Although drying in cacao is an assistance to the production of a highly-porous condition, the vacuum can be dispensed with under cer tain conditions, always provided that the temperature does not rise so high as to risk decomposing the bleaching-powder.

Example II: Fifty kilos of bleaching-powder are stirred to a sludge with thirty kilos of water and treated with forty kilos of calcined sodium carbonate while stirring. The wellmixed paste, which now contains sodium hypochlorite and calciu m carbonate as a result of decomposition, is mixed with ten kilos of cal: cium chlorid and dried, preferably in vacu'o, at about 90 centigrade. This also yields a highly-porous solid cleansing-paste.

It is obvious thatExample II can be so modi fie'd that chlorin is passed into a concentrated solution of alkali and the alkali hypochlorite obtained in this manner treated with the necessary quantity ofslaked lime or calcium chlorid. ,Similarly,the process can be applied when other methods of preparing the hypochlorid' are used or can be made to directly follow these.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we

declare that what we claim is- 1. For purifying acetylene gas, a material consisting of a solid, highly-porous material containing a salt of hypochlorous acid, and capable of remaining porous and effective under the influence of moisture.

2, For purifying acetylene gas, a material consisting of a solid, highly-porous material containing a salt of hypochlorous acid and slaked lime.

3. For purifying acetylene gas a material ,consisting of a solid, highly-porous material senses temperature that the salt of hypoclilorous acid does not decompose, g

6. The manufacture of a solid,highly-porous purifying-paste for acetylene gas by stirring bleaching-powder into a sludge with slaked lime, and then drying the sludge at such a temperature that the salt ofihypochlorous acid does not decompose.

7. The manufacture of a solid,highly-porous purifying-paste for acetylene gas by stirring bleaching-powder into a sludge with slaked lime and calcium chlorid, and then drying -the sludge at such a temperature that the salt of hypoch-lorous acid does not decompose.

' 8. In the production of a material for purifying acetylene gas the combination of a process .for obtaining a solid, highly-porous material-containing a salt of hypochlorous acid with a process for obtaining the hypochlorite, in which the hypochlorous liquor obtained by the latter process is stirredinto a sludge with some indifierent material and the sludge then dried at such a temperature that the salt of hypochlorous acid does not decompose.

. In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specificationin the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

orrro ERNST. ALFRED PHILIPS.

. Witnesses:

FRANZ HASSLACHER, MICHAEL VOLK. 

